Painful Memories
by Elikimber
Summary: It's been three months since SG1 returned from the time dilation field aboard the Odyssey, and Daniel and Vala have started having side effects from the alternate timeline. Painful side effects.
1. Chapter 1

I was disappointed in the season 10 ending for Vala and Daniel, so I've written my own three story follow up that explores where the two characters might have gone after the ending of the show.

Chapter 1

It had been a few days since SG1 had been sent out on a mission. Teal'c was using the down time to visit with his son, Sam had, unsurprisingly, found some new alien technology to play with on the base, and Mitchell was helping to train a few new team leaders in tactics and diplomacy. That left Daniel and Vala with little to do.

At Vala's suggestion, they spent an hour out of their day in the base gym. Vala had suggested sparring, but Daniel turned that idea down quickly. Instead, he chose the free weights while Vala went for a run on the treadmill.

As she ran, Vala enjoyed the view of Daniel's surprisingly bulging biceps that were ordinarily hidden under his gear. He caught her smiling at him and raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Nothing," Vala said mischievously. "Just admiring. Just when I think I know everything there is to know about you." She looked pointedly at his well-muscled arm. "You are full of surprises."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "An archeologist can't have muscles?"

"I didn't say that. It's just that you've always been more the brains of the team rather than the brawn."

"Oh, yeah?" Daniel said, putting his weights back on the rack. "And what does that make Sam?"

Vala slowed the treadmill to a stop and stepped down as she responded. "Sam's got the scientific mind and the tactical know-how. You're the historian and diplomat. Cameron's the front-man, and Teal'c is the brawn."

"And what exactly does that make you?"

"I'm the glue that holds it all together!" Vala said with a smile as they exited the gym together.

"Really?"

"What else would I be?"

"Oh, I don't know, comic relief? The fifth wheel?"

"Hmm, doesn't the fifth wheel imply a romantic relationship? If I'm the fifth wheel, then I'm the one left out. So, who on the team do you fancy? It's Cameron isn't it?"

Vala giggled at her own joke. "Haha. Very funny," Daniel said rolling his eyes.

"You know, I can't imagine what this place was like before I came along!" Vala said cheekily. "It must have been so boring!"

"Oh, I think we managed just fine."

"Don't think you can fool me, Daniel. I mean, come on! No parties, no drinking-"

"Oh, we had Jack O'Neill. Believe me, there was drinking."

"It's not the same. Aren't you glad I came along and taught the SGC how to have fun?"

Daniel placed his hand on her shoulder. "We wouldn't have it any other way."

She smiled up at him, but suddenly, her vision swam. A memory was bombarding her, but she didn't recognize it, like it was someone else's memory. Daniel was kissing her, and the kiss was intense, passionate, so unlike Daniel. As the kiss ended, so did the vision, but as it left her, a sharp pain took its place. She winced and shook her head, trying to clear it.

"Vala? You okay?"

Shaken, she looked back up at Daniel, whose hand hadn't left her shoulder. He was looking at her, eyes full of concern. She gave him a small smile. "Fine, Daniel. I think my daydreams are running away with me."

She meant the comment to be light-hearted. In truth, she had no idea what had just happened, and certainly wasn't ready to talk about it. Better to shrug it off as nothing.

"You're sure?" Of course, Daniel wasn't so quick to let things go.

"I'm sure. Really." She looked up at him and gave him her best winning smile. He raised his eyebrow at her, but seemed to let the issue drop. They continued their walk to the locker rooms in silence. When they reached the door to the women's locker room, she paused and looked back at Daniel. She suddenly saw something in him that she hadn't really seen before. She had always liked Daniel, she certainly enjoyed flirting with him, and if he ever offered to spend the night with her, she wouldn't turn him down, but this was different. The feeling of him kissing her, even though she knew it can't have been real, haunted her, and she had the sudden desire to make it real.

But Daniel would never agree to it. So, she shrugged it off and gave him her normal flirtatious smile. "Well, I guess this is my stop." She gave him a wink. "Unless you'd rather I joined you?"

Daniel rolled his eyes and left her standing at the door without a word. Pretty much exactly the reaction she had expected. Oh, well. So much for fantasies.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vala avoided Daniel for the rest of the day. She wasn't sure how she would handle another run-in with him. But the memory of what she saw stayed with her. It made no sense. What was it that she had seen? She knew that she and Daniel had never kissed like that, and yet the memory felt real. And the headache! Nothing of it lingered, but she could remember the pain vividly. It worried her; not the pain itself, but not knowing its origin. Was there something wrong with her?

She tried to shrug it off and focus on other things. She even visited Sam to offer what little help she could with her new toy, but it didn't help much, and she could tell her presence was annoying the Colonel.

Instead, she sought out Mitchell. He had since finished with his trainees and taken advantage of the evening downtime to go for a run on the treadmill. Vala had little interest in doing another work out, but she had to find something or someone to take her mind off of what had happened earlier, and there were worse things to focus on than Cameron's well-muscled form glistening with sweat.

When she entered the gym, she found him finishing his run. He nodded to her as he slowed to a stop and stepped off the treadmill. "Enjoying your day off?" he asked her.

"Kind of bored, actually," she admitted.

"Well, don't tell Landry that, or we won't get another day off any time soon."

"Don't worry, I won't," she said with a smile. "I was just looking for some company. Have you eaten?"

"Actually, no. Not recently. Let me hit the showers quick, and I'll join you in the mess."

"Great! I'll wait for you there, then." She paused at the door and turned. Mitchell grabbed his blue sweatshirt and pulled his on over a white t-shirt and zipped it halfway. As he turned back to her, she was once again transported to another place.

She was on a ship, coming through a doorway. Her hair was a mess, and she was pulling a sweater down over her tank top. Before her stood a sweaty Cameron Mitchell in a white t-shirt and a blue sweatshirt looking at her, confused. She just smiled back at him. She was happy, very. Something had just happened that made her happy. What was it? She looked back into the room and waved at-

She grunted at the pain that suddenly pressed down on her. She rubbed at her temples and squinted, trying to get her bearings. It took her a minute to realize Mitchell was talking to her.

"Vala? What is it? What's wrong?" He led her to the weight bench and made her sit.

The feeling of the solid bench beneath her steadied her and she managed to look up at her teammate. "I'm alright," she said. And it was mostly true. The pain was almost gone now. She was just struggling to get her bearings, to shake the odd images that she had seen.

"You don't look alright. You look like you've seen a ghost!" Mitchell was looking back and forth between her and the phone by the door, as if trying to decide if he should make the phone call for a med team.

"I promise, Cameron, I'm fine. I've had a headache all day. It just got a little worse."

"Maybe you should see Dr. Lam. She could give you something for it."

"Maybe I will. In the meantime, I may have to cancel our dinner date. I'm not sure I have much of an appetite anymore."

"That's okay. Do you want me to walk you back to your room?"

Vala smiled up at him. He could be such a sweetheart sometimes. "No, thank you. I can make it." To prove it to both him and herself, Vala stood up from the bench and walked a few steps. Her legs were now steady beneath her and she didn't feel wobbly anymore. "See? I'm alright."

Mitchell looked uncertainly at her but, like Daniel, he seemed to accept her word. "Alright. Feel better." He walked out of the gym with her and she could feel him watch her down the hall. It was a feeling she had not quite gotten used to, the feeling of being watched over by her teammates. It made her smile, knowing that they would always be there for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Vala tried to go to bed early, hoping sleep deprivation might be the cause of her ailment, whatever it was, but she couldn't get the two incidents out of her head. The first, while frustrating and stimulating at the same time, was at least straight-forward, and without the headache, she could have chalked it up to her own fantasies. But the second still had her confused. She felt like she was on the verge of remembering something, but couldn't figure out just what exactly. She knew something had happened in the room she saw herself exiting, but whatever it was evaded her. Yet, somehow, she had a strong feeling that the person she had been waving to had been Daniel.

Her first suspicion was that she had had sex with Daniel in that . . . memory, fantasy, whatever it was. It made sense. She was exiting a room with wild hair, pulling her shirt down over her body with a big smile on her face. What else could it be? But if this were a fantasy that her own mind had created, wouldn't she have just imagined the actual sex? Certainly, that would be more interesting! And much more straightforward! So what the hell was going on?

Seeing Daniel the next day was even more awkward than she'd expected it to be. She was already dreading being reminded of her visions, but Daniel was being nicer than he normally was, trying to make sure she was doing better. Of course, Mitchell had told him about the incident in the evening, too, so both of them were acting like mother hens.

SG1 had a briefing that morning to discuss a mission they would be embarking on later that day. It wasn't unusual for Vala to pay little attention during these meetings, but her head was in an entirely different place for this one.

When the briefing was over, she did her best to escape the room before anyone else could catch her, but she should have known better. She had barely gotten out the door before Daniel caught her by the arm. "What's the hurry?" he asked her. "Mitchell told me your headache got worse last night. I wanted to make sure you're okay."  
She gave him a small smile. "I'm fine, Daniel, really. Haven't had a headache all morning."

"Are you sure? Because you're still acting kind of . . . weird."

"Okay, look. The truth is, I'm not used to people fussing over me like this. You, Mitchell, you're both all over me! It's not that I don't appreciate it; I do. I just . . . I'd like some space. I promise; I'm fine."

Daniel gave her a look that told her he didn't quite believe her. "I guess that makes sense," he said slowly. "Sometimes I forget that you were on your own for a pretty long time. Just . . . tell us if we have to worry, okay?"

"Of course!" she grinned. "If I need you, I'll let you know."

Daniel nodded at her and let her go. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure why she was so keen on keeping this to herself, but whatever the reason, she wasn't ready to tell the others about whatever the hell was happening to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ever since that day in the gym when Vala had a headache, things had been weird with her. Well, weirder. It almost felt like she was avoiding him, but she didn't seem angry with him. In fact, he caught her smiling at him more than once. And not her normal flirty smile, but a sincere happy-to-see-you smile. But whenever she caught him looking at her, the smile would disappear, and she'd look away. He tried approaching her a few times, but she always found some excuse to leave.

He finally decided to let the issue drop. After all, if she really was uncomfortable with people fussing over her, maybe she was just embarrassed that he was so concerned for her. She was an adult. She could take care of herself.

So, he was completely thrown off guard when she practically tackled him into her room the evening they returned from their mission to P38-326. "Hi?" he said, uncertain of her current mood.

"Daniel," she said, looking as if she was about to recite a speech she had memorized. "I've been thinking a lot lately."

"Oh? About anything in particular?"

"Yes, actually. I've been thinking about us."

"Us? As in-"

"As in you and me together."

He could feel his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. It wasn't the first time Vala had suggested them as a couple, but it was one of the more direct approaches she'd tried. He tried to read her face, but her expression wasn't one that he had gotten to know. She wasn't flirting with him like she usually did. She wore a small smile, but she also looked very anxious.

He finally decided to ask her straight out. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Daniel. Very. I've always liked you; you know that. We've been through a lot together, the two of us, and I've started to feel like maybe you and I make sense together."

"You and me? Make sense?"

"You can't deny we make a good team."

"There's a big difference between making a good team in the field and making a good couple."

"You've always fought this! Why? Am I so repulsive to you?"

"Maybe I just use my brain to do my thinking, instead of my reproductive organs."

"Daniel, this is not about sex!" Daniel raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay," Vala admitted. "It's not _entirely_ about sex."  
"There it is."

"Daniel, I don't know what else I can do to convince you! I really do have feelings for you!"

"Vala, you can say it as many different ways as you want; it doesn't mean I'm going to believe you."

"Look, I know I have been less than trustworthy in the past, but you've always been able to tell when I'm lying and when I'm telling the truth."

"Sometimes I feel like I can, and then you manage to surprise me. I don't like surprises."

"I swear to you, this is not something I'm taking lightly. I've thought a lot about this, and I really think-"

"What? You think we'd make a good couple? You think we'd be happy together? Vala, come on! Even if I believed you, even if I actually thought that you had any kind of real feelings for me, you can't honestly say you believe that we'd be right for each other!" He had more to say, but he was distracted by Vala. She was bent over, her hands on her head, groaning. Genuinely concerned, Daniel approached to help, when his own head was suddenly bombarded by what felt like half a dozen mallets hitting him over and over again. When he looked up, he realized they were no longer in Vala's room in the SGC. It looked like they were on a ship, the Prometheus or the Odyssey, maybe the Daedalus. He wasn't sure which. They were still arguing. He saw himself yelling, and Vala, Vala looked like she was crying. Disoriented, he couldn't quite make out the words. The whole situation felt oddly familiar, despite the fact that he was sure he'd never experienced it. He watched himself walk over to Vala, and sit beside her on his bed. Before he realized what was happening, they were kissing.

In an instant, it was all over – the vision, the pain – all of it. "What the hell was that?" he asked, dazed.

Vala stared at him. "You saw it, too?"

"I saw . . . something. Us, fighting."

"On board the Odyssey?"

"I think so, yeah. What the hell was that?"

Vala sat down on the bed and gestured for him to sit in the chair across from her. Still confused, he plopped himself down in the chair. "I'm not certain, but I have a guess."

Daniel looked at her. She wasn't confused by this as he was, at least not as much. "This happened to you before?" She nodded. "That headache, in corridor the other day. Is this what happened?"

"I think so. I saw something different, but yes, it felt the same."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Okay, don't freak out, but I think they're memories."

"Memories? From when? I don't remember that. It seemed more like some kind of alternate universe."

"Close. Alternate time-line."

"Come again?"

"I think what we were seeing was another time-line. Another version of us."

"So, what? You think we changed the future? Again?"

"I know we did; so do you. I think these are memories from the timeline on the Odyssey, when we were stuck in the time dilation field."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"It's just a theory, but it makes sense."

"In what universe does this make sense?"

"Think about it! We know we changed our future. And we know that we were stuck on Odyssey for decades."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, I think we both know that I would have ended up with _someone_." She looked at him pointedly.

"That's your reasoning? You think because of one vision of us kissing-"

"Two, actually. The other one I saw was also of us . . . kissing. No arguing, though."

Daniel stared at her. Vala was known for her wild theories, but this one was insane. The strangest part was that she didn't have her normal cheekiness. She spoke about it as though they were in a briefing with the rest of the team. Was this really just an elaborate ploy to get in his pants? It wouldn't surprise him; she'd certainly done this sort of thing before. Then again, she wasn't making up what happened to them. He'd felt that headache, and he'd seen . . . something.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Not knowing where else to turn, Daniel suggested bringing this to Sam. "That's a good idea. She'll probably have some theories of her own."

Vala started to take off in the direction of Sam's lab when Daniel caught her arm. "Hold on there."

Vala looked at him, confused. "What?"

"Why don't you let me talk to Sam? I don't know how she's going to take this, and it might be better coming from just me."

Vala sat back down on her bed and crossed her arms. "Fine, but don't think you can leave me out of this!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Daniel found Sam in her lab, standing over her latest experiment. Not wanting to surprise her, he stopped at the open door and knocked. She looked up and smiled at him. "Hey!"

"Hey," he said, returning her smile. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, just trying to figure out this device SG12 brought back from P46-229. It's not nearly as fascinating as the Ancient technology that we're used to, but it's still interesting."

"Sam, I don't think they've invented the technology that didn't interest you."

Sam shoved him playfully. "So, what are you up to?"

"Oh, not much. Right now, I'm mostly trying to avoid Vala."

"Oh, no. Again? What is she doing this time?"

"Oh, little bit of this, little bit of that. You know, the usual." He pulled a face at her, and she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Well, while you're here, can you take a look at this?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Sam walked over to her desk and sat down, pulling something out from under a stack of papers. Daniel followed her to see what she held.

Suddenly, he was somewhere else entirely. Instead of Sam's office, he saw the walls of the Odyssey. Sam was still seated in front of him, but instead of her desk in front of her, it was a cello. She pulled the bow across its strings, and as he watched her, he realized she was older. Her face was lined with wrinkles, and her once short blonde hair was now shoulder length and more silver in color. He and the rest of the team – Mitchell, Teal'c, Landry, and Vala were seated before Sam – an audience of sorts. Vala was seated next to him. She, too, appeared older. He watched himself reach to her and place his hand on her leg. She looked up at him, smiled, and placed her own hand on his.

In an instant, the image was gone, and he was back in Sam's lab. But as soon as the image left him, pain took its place. It felt like someone was using a ribbon device on him. Yet, that too left him, and he was left blinking, his hands holding his temples.

"Daniel? Are you alright?" Sam's hand was on his arm and she looked at him with concern in her eyes.

He stared back at her, trying to reconcile the Sam he saw in front of him now with the version of her he had just seen. "Yeah, I think so. Headache."

"Maybe you should see Dr. Lam."

"Yeah, maybe." He was tempted to shrug this off and ignore it, but he knew Sam wouldn't accept it. Besides, whatever this was, it wasn't just affecting him; it was affecting Vala, too. If he was in some kind of danger, then so was she. He wasn't willing to risk that.

"Actually, Sam, this is what I came here to talk to you about." He sat down heavily in a chair on the other side of Sam's desk. Sam waited patiently for him to continue. "This is the second time I've had one of these . . . headaches. And I'm not the only one getting them. Vala's been getting them too."

"And they just suddenly . . . happen?"

"Yeah. There isn't really any warning. It's fast, though. Doesn't last."

"And you've never had migraines before?"

"No. But I don't think it's a migraine. It's more than just the headache. Vala and I have both been seeing things. Visions of some kind."

Sam's eyebrows instantly shot up. "Really?" Daniel could hear the skepticism in her voice.

"I know what it sounds like, but I swear it's true."

"What exactly are you seeing?"

"Us. It's like we're having memories, but I don't remember any of them."

"What kinds of memories?"

"Well, like just now, I saw you, but you were older. You were playing a cello."

"A cello? Daniel, are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?" Sam's expression had gone from skeptical to worried. "Sam, what is it?"

"I've always wanted to learn how to play the cello." She paused. "I've never told you that, have I?"

"No. I don't think so." They sat in confused silence for a moment. "Sam, this isn't just a coincidence. Something's going on."

"You might be right, Daniel. I just have no idea what it is. Why would you be having visions of some alternate version of us?"

"Vala has a theory." He told her Vala's theory, leaving out the details about any romance between himself and Vala.

"Daniel, that's insane," Sam told him when he had finished. "There is no way you could be having memories from a timeline that doesn't exist anymore!"

"I didn't think so either, Sam, but you have to admit, something weird is going on here."

"If you and Vala had been separated from the rest of us at some point, I might think that someone was messing with your heads, but the two of you haven't been alone together recently."

"No, not really. Not on a mission."

"I think we need more help on this. We should bring it up to the rest of the team, and to Landry."

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, I guess we should." He wasn't really looking forward to meeting with the rest of the team about this, especially since he was certain Vala would use the opportunity to discuss their so-called romance in these visions. He could already feel himself blushing. This was not going to be fun.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Daniel sat at the briefing table, fingers anxiously drumming. Vala sat next to him, and though she hadn't stopped smiling, Daniel could tell by her silence that she wasn't quite feeling her normal, perky self.

Sam sat across from them, explaining for what seemed like the fifth time why they couldn't possibly be remembering anything from the other timeline. Frankly, Daniel mostly agreed with her, but hearing Sam explain it again was not as helpful as she seemed to think.

Thankfully, Cam and Teal'c interrupted her explanation as they entered and Cam asked, "So, what's so important that we needed to meet immediately?"

Daniel exchanged looks with Sam and Vala, each of them waiting for one of the other two to respond. Finally, Vala took it upon herself to give a brief explanation. "Daniel and I have been . . . remembering things from the other timeline."

"The other timeline?" Cam said with a raise eyebrow. "You mean, like the timeline we erased?"

"You know, maybe we should just wait for the general," Daniel suggested, not really wanting to rehash all of this multiple times.

"I'm here," Landry said as he entered. "What's going on?"

As the general walked to his seat, Vala launched into her explanation. But as soon as the general was sitting and Daniel got a full view of everyone seated around the table, he felt a sudden ache in his temples. "Oh, no."

Vala stopped talking and turned to him. "Daniel?"

But Daniel barely heard her. In an instant, his head was filled with pain. He couldn't stop himself from crying out. He was vaguely aware of hands on his shoulders and voices calling his name. But he also saw something – it was nothing more than an image that his brain held on to for less than a minute, but he knew what it was. Or at least he knew what Vala believed it was.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the image was gone. His vision swam for a second, and then righted itself. His head didn't recover quite as quickly, but the intense, shooting pain had devolved into a dull ache.

"Okay," Daniel groaned. "That one hurt."

"Daniel? Did you see something?" Vala asked with both concern and confusion on her face.

"Yeah," Daniel answered, his head still buried in his hands.

"Saw something? You mean something from the erased timeline?" Cam asked.

"I told you, we've both been getting these memories, and they're always accompanied by headaches," Vala replied. "That one seemed a little worse than normal, though."

Daniel looked up to find the rest of the table looking at him with various degrees of concern, Vala's being the greatest. "I'm fine. It just took me by surprise."

Both were true. The pain was mostly gone now, and he certainly hadn't been expecting it. The severity of the pain worried him, but he wasn't ready to admit that yet.

"So, what exactly did you see?" the general asked.

"Well, all of you," Daniel said slowly. "We were all sitting around a table on the Odyssey. It looked like we were . . . celebrating?"

"Celebrating," Cam repeated doubtfully.

"Yeah. Christmas, I think. You had mistletoe."

Sam gave Mitchell a sideways glance and chuckled, while Cam screwed up his face. "Are you sure these are . . . memories?"

"I'm not hallucinating, Cam."

"Indeed, he is not, Colonel Mitchell." Everyone turned to look at Teal'c, who had been silent until this point. "I remember that day well."

"Wait, so this actually happened?" Sam said, the smile wiped from her face.

"Sam, I thought you believed us!" Daniel said indignantly.

"Teal'c, you remember this?" Sam said quickly.

"I do, Colonel Carter. We had been locked in the time dilation for approximately six months. Vala Mal Doran was insistent that we needed something to celebrate, to keep our spirits up, and Daniel Jackson suggested Christmas. We ate a large meal and exchanged gifts, and Colonel Mitchell did indeed have mistletoe."

"That does sound like Christmas," Mitchell admitted.

"It sounds like Daniel and Vala are actually having memories from the erased timeline." Sam said. "That shouldn't be happening."

"You keep saying that. Why not?" Vala insisted.

"We erased that timeline. It doesn't exist, so you shouldn't be able to remember it."

"Look, you've done this before, right? Changed the future?" Vala asked.

"Well, it's hard to know for sure, but yes," Sam admitted. "We have gotten messages through the Star Gate that we believe were from an alternate future. But none of us have ever been able to remember those other timelines."

"But this time is different. This time, we have someone who does remember. Someone who lived it." Vala looked pointedly at Teal'c.

"You know, as much as I hate to admit it, Vala has a point," Daniel said. "Did we really erase the timeline if there's someone left who lived it?"

"So, what? You think that it wasn't erased entirely because of Teal'c?" Mitchell asked.

"That's my guess," Vala said.

"Then why are you two the only ones who can remember it? Why aren't the rest of us getting these memories?" the general asked.

"I have a theory about that." Vala smiled.

"Vala, no," Daniel groaned. "Let's not go there."

"Go where, exactly?" Cam demanded.

"Vala's under the delusion that she and I were . . . a couple . . . in the other timeline." Daniel rolled his eyes. "I keep telling her that there's no way that would happen, but-"

"Vala Mal Doran is correct, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said quietly.

Daniel's and Vala's eyes both snapped in Teal'c's direction. "What?" they said together.

"The two of you were indeed romantically involved while we were on board the Odyssey."

Vala's grin widened, while Daniel groaned and put his head in his hands. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Not that this isn't fascinating," Cam said, with a mix of embarrassment and glee on his face, "but what does that have to do with any of this?"

"It means that Daniel and I have an emotional tie to this other timeline. Something that we had then that we don't have now. Maybe that's why we're remembering, and the rest of you aren't."

"Daniel? What do you think?" Sam asked.

Daniel lifted his head and tried very hard to ignore his burning cheeks. "I don't know. Believe me, I was the first to tell Vala she was wrong, but now," he glanced at Teal'c. "I don't know. I guess it's possible."

"So, what do we do about it?" Mitchell asked after a long pause. "Any suggestions?"

"Actually," Vala said slowly, "I think I have one." Everyone looked at her expectantly, so she continued. "If these memories _are_ caused by emotional responses, why don't we try to trigger one?"

"How exactly do we do that?" Cam asked.

"Well, these memories seem to be induced by the things that we are currently experiencing. The memory Daniel just had was triggered when he saw all of us sitting here together, just like when we were together on the ship. He and I both had one while we were arguing. What if we can create an experience that would trigger a memory?"

"How can we do that? If none of us experienced the other timeline, we can't pinpoint a memory to trigger," Sam pointed out.

"Well, first of all, we do have someone who experienced the other timeline." Vala looked pointedly at Teal'c. "But that doesn't matter. Muscles has already confirmed for us that Daniel and I were . . . involved on the Odyssey. If that's true, than we likely have some emotional memories together. I think the best way to trigger them would be . . . a kiss."

"Please tell me you're joking." Daniel wanted to shrink away to nothing. His team had been there for more than one embarrassing situation, but this was just too much. He still wasn't entirely certain that Teal'c wasn't pulling his leg about him and Vala. It just didn't seem possible that he would even consider-

"It's actually a pretty good idea, Daniel," Sam said, nudging him.

"Sam, please." He looked at her, pleading her to stop.

"Think about it. If it's true, this is probably the best way to trigger an emotional memory."

"Is it such a good idea, though?" Cam asked. "I mean, they've both been having pretty bad headaches along with each memory. We don't know what they are yet. This could hurt them."

"Thank you!" Daniel exclaimed, at this point, glad for any reason to abort this plan.

"I can call in a medical team to standby, if it would make you feel better," the general said. Daniel could have sworn he saw a tiny smile on his face as he said it.

If it was possible to die of embarrassment, Daniel was pretty sure he'd be on the floor right about now. "No, General," he sighed. "I don't think that's necessary."

"So, we're going through with this?" Sam asked.

"Sounds like it," Cam confirmed.

"Do I get a vote?" Daniel asked, holding to one last hope.

"Nope," Vala said, standing up. "Come here, Handsome."

Daniel stood up, rolling his eyes. The two of them stared at each other for a minute while the rest of the team watched awkwardly. "Get on with it," Cam yelled.

Sighing, Daniel leaned in and pecked Vala on the lips. "Alright, no triggered memory. Glad we tried that! Now, what are we-"

"Jackson! Kiss the girl." Daniel turned to argue with him. "That's an order."

He turned back to Vala, who was smiling so wide, Daniel had a feeling her cheeks were sore. Alright, time to get this over with. He leaned in and brought his mouth down to hers.

This time, Vala made sure he wasn't getting away. She grabbed his waist and pulled him closer to her and deepened the kiss. Daniel didn't fight it. In fact, somehow, this didn't feel wrong. It should have. It should have felt completely wrong. But it didn't. Holding Vala, her lips on his, felt right. It felt like this was exactly what he should have been doing. In fact, why hadn't he done this before? Why had he been fighting this for so long? Of course they belonged together. This made sense.

As they pulled apart, Daniel realized his hand was on her face, and he looked at her. This time, he didn't see the conniving con-artist that she used to be. He didn't even see the perky, albeit handsy coworker he had gotten used to working with. He saw the woman he loved. He wasn't sure when his feelings had changed, but he suddenly knew they had. "Vala?" he whispered slowly.

She smiled at him. "Hello, Darling." And everything was right with the world.

Until his head exploded in pain. Daniel fell to his knees, screaming in agony. Somewhere, far away, Sam yelled his name, and he thought he heard Cam yell for Vala. But he didn't know what was happening. All he knew was pain. Until finally, mercifully, the world went dark.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The team was assembled in the infirmary. The only one missing was General Landry, who was busy running the place, but he had insisted on being kept informed. Both Daniel and Vala had been rushed to the infirmary right after they had collapsed. Dr. Lam immediately began running tests and scans and had promptly scolded them for experimenting without her knowledge.

Vala was now awake, and despite everyone's protests, had insisted on getting out of bed and staying with Daniel, who was still unconscious. Mitchell had finally been able to talk her into sitting on a chair next to Daniel's bed, but she hadn't left Daniel's side after that. The doctors and nurses came and went, checking on her, but Vala never moved, and she didn't talk, despite the rest of the team's questions. She only sat and held Daniel's hand in hers.

So the rest of SG1 stood around and waited. Occasionally, they would talk quietly, but there wasn't really much else to do. Until finally, Daniel stirred in his hospital bed. At the first sight of movement, SG1 crowded around the bed, and Vala watched him hopefully. When Daniel opened his eyes, his blurry vision settled on her. "Vala?" he croaked.

"Hello, Darling," she answered, smiling. He gave her a small, confused smile and then continued on, looking at each of his teammates.

"What's going on?"

As he answered Jackson's question, Mitchell couldn't help but notice that he hadn't removed his hand from Vala's. In fact, his thumb was now absently caressing her hand. Mitchell wasn't sure if it was intentional, or if he even realized he was doing it. "What exactly do you remember?" he said, deciding to answer Jackson's question with a question.

"Umm, Vala and I were getting memories from the Odyssey timeline. We were meeting in the briefing room. Vala and I-" He stopped suddenly, and looked at Vala, like he was noticing her presence for the first time. Then, he looked down at his hand in shock. He pulled it out of Vala's grasp and quickly asked again, "What's going on?"

Vala looked more than a little hurt, but she didn't say anything. Carter finally stepped in to explain everything. "Dr. Lam said that the two of you have altered EKG readings. It's like you have multiple personalities."  
"What, like when I had the people from the Stromos in my head?"

"Not exactly," Sam said. "There are only two readings for each of you, and they're nearly identical. We think that both readings are you – one is you, the way you are now, and the other is the version of you that lived on the Odyssey. Each personality is fighting for dominance, which explains the headaches."

"Great. Any ideas how to fix this?" Daniel asked, looking at Sam.

"My first thought was to look at the technology from the Stromos, but I don't think that will work. Their technology worked because it could pinpoint each person's specific consciousness. But in this case, both personalities are still you, just different versions of you with different experiences. I don't think we can use it to take out one without the other."

Daniel sighed. "So we're stuck like this for a while?" He looked over at Vala, who suddenly was very interested in the floor.

"Unfortunately, whatever this thing is, you won't be able to live with it for long," Sam explained. "That's why the headaches have gotten worse."

Daniel's head fell back into his pillows at that news. "We've got calls in to anyone who might be able to help – the Tokra, the Asgard-" Mitchell trailed off at the mention of their little grey friends. They all knew the Asgard were probably their best bet, but they also knew there weren't many of them left, and the ones who were left might not be around to help them.

"We'll figure this out, Daniel," Sam reassured him. "The two of you just stay here and rest. Try to hold on to who you are."

Daniel nodded and gave her a small smile. Dr. Lam came in and shooed the team away and made Vala get back into her own bed. Mitchell looked back at his two teammates as he left the infirmary. To lose either one of them would be devastating, but to lose both – the thought was unimaginable.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Vala lay still in her bed in the infirmary, staring up at the ceiling. Every few minutes, she glanced over at Daniel lying in the bed next to hers. His headache had gotten bad enough that Dr. Lam had given him a sedative. He slept now, but the expression on his face told her that he was still in pain.

For some reason, her headache hadn't gotten that bad yet. She accepted the pain medication, but refused the sedatives. Even though the pain refused to be dulled completely, she was determined to stay awake through this.

She had her own theory as to why Daniel was so much worse off than she was, but she knew he wouldn't want to hear it, and it wouldn't help to tell the others, so she kept her theory to herself.

Instead, she spent her time trying to unpack the memories that twisted together in her mind. At times, she felt that she could control it. She pulled at this strand or that one, watching memories that she knew she shouldn't have, but she was grateful for them; grateful that she had been given this glance at what a life with Daniel might look like.

Other times, the memories bombarded her, and she was overwhelmed and confused. Still other times, she struggled to be able to remember much of anything.

Daniel moaned as he struggled to open his eyes. The lights in the room were too bright, and whoever was using his head for a drum was really starting to annoy him. "Daniel? How are you feeling?" Vala's voice sounded faint, muffled. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing the heels of his hands into them in a vain attempt to find relief from the headache. When that didn't work, he groaned again, let his hands drop and slowly opened his eyes.

Vala was standing over him, concern all over her face. "Daniel?" she asked, worriedly.

"Yup," he said shortly. "I'm here."

"How do you feel?" she repeated her earlier question.

"Like someone's been using a ribbon device on me for the past three days. You?"

She gave him a small smile. "Two days. So, not so bad then." He returned her smile with his own humorless one and pressed his head back into the pillow. "Shall I get Dr. Lam? I'm sure she'd give you another sedative if-"

"No, that's alright. I think I'll try being awake for a while. Have they made any progress?"

"Not that I've heard, sorry. They still haven't figured out what's causing this." She seemed to want to say more, but pressed her lips together as though to stop herself.

"I don't suppose there's any chance of us just getting better, is there?"

"Somehow, I doubt it."

"Yeah." Daniel stared at the ceiling as Vala found a chair and sat in it. They stayed like that in awkward silence for several minutes before Vala finally broke it.

"You know, this doesn't have to be so awkward."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. This thing, whatever it is. Whatever these memories are. Daniel, we've worked together for over two years. We're . . . friends. Nothing has to change."

"Hey, I'm not the one claiming to have visions of us . . . together."

Vala pursed her lips. "You saw them, too."

Daniel winced as another wave of pain hit him. "Look, Vala, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's happening in my head. But I do know that you and I are not a couple; we have never been a couple; and we are never going to _be_ a couple!"

The last statement came out a little more spiteful than he had meant it, and when he looked at Vala, he realized that it had hurt her. Her hand subtly brushed her cheek, and he wondered if she was wiping away a tear. "You can deny it all you want, Daniel, but it happened. Even Teal'c admits that."

"It doesn't matter." This time, Daniel saw the tear that ran down Vala's cheek, but the pain in his head was getting worse. He grunted and hitched forward, his head in his hands.

"Daniel?" Vala stood and put her hands on Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

"I don't-" Then, suddenly, everything shifted. The pain was still there, but it wasn't pounding anymore. He looked up at Vala, who was still looking at him with concern. The tear was still tracing its way down her cheek. He reached up and brushed it away.

"Are you alright?" Vala asked uncertainly.

"I think so." Something seemed . . . off, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. Vala seemed torn between showing concern and wanting to start the argument again. She looked so hurt. Because of him. He was hurting her.

It was as though someone had flipped a switch in him. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed so he could face her. "Vala, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry for all those things I said. I keep . . . I keep fighting this."

She looked at him skeptically. "Why?"

"Because I'm an idiot. You know that better than anyone."

"But why now?" She stood from her chair and started pacing the room. "You've seen what I've seen. You know what I know. How can you still fight this?"

"You know why."

"You're scared."

Daniel stood and looked at her from across the room. "Vala, I'm terrified."

"Of me?" Again, she looked so hurt. "What? Are you afraid that I'll leave you? That I'll just walk away? You don't trust me?"

"No! Vala, I'm . . . I'm scared of losing you." He crossed the room and faced her again. "I went through hell when I lost Sharé. I don't . . . I can't do that again. God, look at what we do for a living! We never know what can happen; if we'll ever get back."

"I suppose I can understand that, but why-"

"If I admit to myself that I care about you, then if anything happens, I have to face those feelings. If I can convince myself that you don't mean anything more to me than a friend, I can walk away."

"So why aren't you? Why don't you walk away?"

"Because I do remember. I keep fighting it, but I remember how happy I was, with you. I remember how much I loved you, and I . . . I couldn't let myself keep hurting you."

"So, I'm talking to the other you? The version of you from the Odyssey?"

"Sort of, I think. I don't know; this is confusing. We're both here, I guess. Both . . . versions of me. But yes, I guess the version of me that remembers the other timeline is in control now. I had to fight it, to stop myself from saying those things."

"But if you keep fighting-"

"I know." He winced even as he said it. "The headaches. That's why mine are worse than yours. You're not fighting it."

"But you are. Daniel, I appreciate your apology, but I'd rather you didn't kill yourself just to talk to me."

"It doesn't matter. Not really. He's still fighting me. He'll figure it out, eventually. I did." He touched her cheek, pulling her face closer to his. "But you shouldn't have to wait. I love you."

Tears ran down her cheeks again, but she was smiling this time. "I love you too, Darling." He moved to kiss her, but pain suddenly filled his head again. He tried to ignore it, but it pressed down on him, and he fell to his knees. Vala knelt next to him, and he thought he heard her voice, but the only thing he knew was pain.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So this thing is going to take the memories of the other timeline out of their heads?" Mitchell asked Sam.

"Essentially, yes. Bill and I modified one of the pods from the Stromos to extract the other personalities."

"So, when this is all over, they won't remember any of that?" Cam asked, pointing through the window to the scene below. Jackson and Vala were in the middle of a heart to heart, and Cam was pretty sure he just heard Jackson proclaim his love for her.

"None of it. It's too much for them to have in their heads."

"I don't know, Sam. What if they don't want to lose these memories? What if they'd rather have them for whatever time they've got left; you know, they'd have each other. They might-"

He was interrupted by Vala's shouting. Jackson was curled up on the floor, head in his hands, yelling. Vala was shouting for the doctor. A medical team raced in and started caring for Daniel.

Sam eyed him. "You really think they would rather live in agony for a day or two, just so they wouldn't have to forget?"

"No," he said, defeated. "I guess not."

They watched in momentary silence as the medical team managed to get Jackson into the bed. One of the nurses stuck him with a syringe that Cam hoped was pain medication. Or a sedative. Or both.

"You know, maybe we could just tell them about all of this. They wouldn't remember it, but if we told them what happened, maybe-"

"We can't tell them, Cam," Carter insisted. "That's what started this mess. If we tell them what happened, they could end up remembering, and then this will all start again!"

"Is that even possible? If we get these memories, these other personalities, out of them, shouldn't that be the end of it?"

"I honestly don't know, Cam. None of this should be possible. But I'm not about to take the risk that this could happen again."

Mitchell crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, we don't tell them. But they've done this twice now, right? Ended up together? Chances are, it'll happen again. If we let things run their natural course, then-"

"We have to try to prevent that too."

"Oh, come on! Sam, this is ridiculous!"

"We can't risk it, Cam! Vala said she thought the reason this was affecting them and not the rest of us was because of their emotional ties to the other timeline. From what we've seen, she's probably right. This all started because they started getting close again. If we can, we have to try to stop that from happening."

"Sam, don't you think those two deserve a happy ending?"

Sam looked down into the med lab at Daniel's prone form on the bed. "Of course I do. I was with Daniel when he lost Sharé. And I know what Vala's been through. But I'd rather have them alive and well."

"And what if they'd rather take the risk?" Cam challenged. "What if they'd rather be happy than be safe?"

"If it was one or the other of them, maybe. But both of them? Cam, we can't let this happen to them. We have to keep them apart."

Cam sighed heavily. "Fine, but I don't like it."

"Neither do I," Sam admitted.

"This stays between us and Teal'c. No one else needs to be prying into their personal lives. It's bad enough that we're doing it."

Sam nodded. "Let's talk to Dr. Lam. If we're going to do this, we need to do it soon. I don't think Daniel has much time left."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"You're going to what?" Daniel exclaimed.

"We have to extract the memories from the other timeline, Daniel," Sam said gently. "That's what's killing you."

"And if you do that, we won't remember any of this?" Daniel asked.

"That's right."

Daniel clung to Vala's hand like it was his lifeline, and Vala did the same to his. "No." He said it softly, but with determination. "No, you can't take this away from me."

"Daniel-"

"No!" Daniel refused to hear Sam's logic. He didn't care. "I finally figured this out. Vala and I found each other again, and now you want to take that away from us?"

"Darling," Vala said gently. "We don't have a choice."

"Yes, we do."

"We'll die!"

"Then I'll die happier than I've ever been."

"Daniel, please," Sam begged. "You don't have much time left. Hours, maybe. We need to do this now."

"NO!" He knew he was being unreasonable, but he couldn't make himself give in. How could they ask this of him? How could they insist that he give this up?

"Darling." Vala sat next to him, still holding his hand. He didn't think she'd stopped crying in the past few hours. "I don't want to watch you die."

"But you're okay with forgetting this? Forgetting us?"

"Of course not. But this doesn't have to be the end, Daniel. We've found each other twice now; what's to stop us from doing it again?"

Sam put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Daniel, but we have to do this. Now."

Daniel closed his eyes. He knew they were right. He could feel how weak he was. He didn't have much time. But how could he do this? How could he willingly let go of Vala?

"I won't give up on us, Daniel," Vala said, pressing her hand to his cheek. "I promise. No matter how much nagging it takes."

He smiled at her and slowly nodded. "Alright."

It was strange. Not quite the same as waking up. He hadn't been asleep. Yet, it felt like he was waking up. Daniel looked around the room at the faces of his teammates, confused. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Hey there, Sunshine," Mitchell said.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked. "Headaches?"

"No," Daniel answered, still confused. "I feel fine. What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I guess the last thing I remember was Landry telling us we were getting a few days off."

"Nothing after that?" Mitchell confirmed.

"I don't think so, no. Why?"

"You and Vala started having memories from the erased timeline, when we were in the time dilation field on the Odyssey."

"How is that even possible?"

"Honestly, we don't know," Sam admitted. "But it was killing you, having two sets of memories – one from then and one from now. We had to remove them."

"Okay," he said slowly. "Well, I guess it worked. I don't remember any of that." He looked around the room again and realized Vala was sitting next to him. She looked as though she had been crying. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded, biting her lip. "My head's just a bit wonky. I haven't gone through the whole memory removal thing yet."

"Why not?" He looked back at his other teammates. There was something they weren't telling him, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"You were worse off than I was," Vala answered. "Don't worry. I'm next."

"Speaking of which, we should get started," Sam said.

"Sure," Vala said with a smile that didn't seem sincere. "Just give me a minute." She took Daniel's hand in hers and looked as though she might start crying.

"Vala? What is it?"

"I want you to know that I'm not going to forget."

"But that's what we're doing. If you don't forget-"

"I don't care what that thing does to me. I don't care. I'm not going to forget. I promise you."

Daniel looked at Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c, but none of them seemed to want to give him an explanation. Instead, Sam crossed to Vala and pulled gently at her arm. "Come on, Vala. It's time." Vala let herself be led away.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Dr. Lam had insisted that he rest in the infirmary, despite his objections. He felt perfectly fine, but she wouldn't hear of it. Neither would the rest of the team. Vala was in the bed next to his, but she had been asleep since the procedure. Apparently, whatever this thing was had taken a lot out of her, even though everyone had insisted that he was worse off.

The rest of the team had been in and out of the infirmary. None of them seemed to know quite what to say. Teal'c was as stoic as ever, but Sam and Mitchell seemed like they wanted to talk about something, but didn't want to let him in on it.

Finally, after a few hours, Vala started waking up. Dr. Lam and her medical team did their thing – checking vitals and such. Sam took a few minutes to talk quietly with her. When everyone seemed satisfied that she was okay, Daniel got up from his own bed (after arguing with Dr. Lam, Sam, and Mitchell), to check on her himself.

From what he could tell, she looked fine. A little tired, maybe, but no worse for wear. "Hey," she said weakly when he came into view.

"Hey, yourself," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused, but I seem to be in one piece. You?"

"About the same. Any idea what the hell just happened to us?"

"Not a clue. Apparently you and I have been through the ringer."

"Apparently. Something about alternate timelines and multiple personalities."

Sounds like fun."

After an awkward minute or two, Daniel finally gave voice to the nagging thought he had had since Vala's procedure. "You know, you said something to me, after my procedure, but before yours."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, something about not forgetting."

"Well, that seems stupid. Wasn't that the whole point? We had to forget, or we would die."

"I know, but you seemed to think that there was something important to hang on to. Any idea what it was?"

Vala shook her head. "Sorry, no. I don't think they left much of anything up there." She tapped on the side of her head. "Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'empty-headed.'"

"Well, I guess if there was anything important, the others would tell us."

"Of course they would," Vala agreed. "SG1 looks out for each other, don't we?" Vala reached out and patted Daniel's hand. Daniel stared down at her hand on his, and for a minute he felt an odd sensation of déjá vu.

He smiled at her and twisted his arm so that his hand was holding hers. "You're right," he said. "We do."

Don't worry! This is just the first installment of a three-part story. This isn't the end for Daniel and Vala!


End file.
